Light of the Desert

ISBN-13: 9781425977498 / Angielski / Twarda / 2007 / 590 str.

Lucette Walters

Opis

Noora, the favorite daughter of a powerful and successful Middle-Eastern businessman, has the perfect life. After graduating from a posh London ladies' college, she plans to return home to her father's opulent mansion near Jordan, where she will marry her childhood sweetheart, the handsome Mishel. The union is anticipated with great joy by members of both families. Except for one: her jealous younger sister Zaffeera, who has secretly devised a diabolical plan to destroy Noora's happiness. By drugging and deceiving her sister in a London discotheque, Zaffeera has arranged for a witness to photograph Noora in a scenario so apparently promiscuous, it can only bring dishonor to the family. Zaffeera's plot succeeds. Goaded by his fundamentalist peers, Noora's father is enraged and believes she has betrayed his name. He is driven to execute his "sinful" daughter in an "honor killing" to erase his shame. Unbeknownst to her father, Noora survives the execution and is rescued by her older brother, Nageeb who, through clever schemes, manages to smuggle his sister out of Jordan and care for her physical and emotional wounds. In an attempt to fly with Noora to Alexandria, Egypt, where he believes his sister will be temporarily safe, the helicopter he chartered crashes in the desert, killing Nageeb and the pilot, leaving Noora badly injured. Alone, Noora struggles to survive. She embarks on a dangerous journey which takes her from the desert to the Egyptian shores, across the Mediterranean to the French Riviera, to Paris and the United States - all the while stalked by Moustafa, her former bodyguard and a fundamentalist who has vowed "at all costs" to abduct her and prove to his peers, and to her father, that she is still alive. More than seven years later, with a new look and an assumed identity, Noora believes she has found sanctuary and even a new life in Los Angeles, as an assistant to an ailing Hollywood producer. But still fearful of discovery, she remains essentially alone, confiding in no one and bearing her traumatic losses as best she can. To Noora's astonishment, a script she has written is nominated for a major film award. Shortly before the awards ceremony, a twist of fate brings Noora face-to-face with the truth of who betrayed her and why. Facing a life-threatening decision, Noora knows she must seek justice. She must return to her homeland to confront her father, the man she had once trusted above all others. And proclaim her innocence to Mishel, the man she never stopped loving...